This collection, the first major one to appear since Perkoff's death at 44, should reestablish him as a major figure of the Bear Generation. Perkoff, a central figure in the West Coast Beat Scene, published several books and dozens of poems in leading avant-garde journals. Charles Olson said that Perkoff's "fineness of ear and touch makes it possible to reintroduce materials that so many others have torpedoed". This collection contains all of his books, his journal publications, and much unpublished work, including the sequence "The Venice Poems"."Bobbie Louise Hawkins says that Stuart Perkoff was the only one she knew who could use the common street walk, the then hip phrasing, in a way that felt un-dramatic, natural, not just an attempt to be like some other side of life or person. There was no sense of trying it on, slumming, etc. It was part and parcel with the same ability Charles Olson had so valued, the particular genius that could enter and take place wherever it found itself". -- Robert Cresley, from the Foreword